Members Defend Gay/Straight Alliance Formation at North Andover High School

We are writing to you in regard to the content in the article "Some parents protest program" by Rebecca Lipchitz in the Nov. 20 issue of the North Andover Citizen and the comments made in the letter to the editor written by Roseanne Farese in the same issue.
We are members of the Gay/Straight Alliance, but the opinions expressed in this letter are ours, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Gay/Straight Alliance or its members.
Enclosed is the actual survey that the GSA is planning to pass out to North Andover High School students. This survey never had the question "How do you know you wouldn’t feel comfortable having sex with another male (or female)?" We are curious to know where Ms, Farese obtained this question. This question and similar questions have never been in any material that we have written. After you read this survey, we hope you will not that there are absolutely no references to gay/lesbian sexual activities. When the survey speaks of same-sex marriages and same-sex parents, it is not talking about sex, but of the relationships between homosexuals with their partners and their children.
Our purpose for this survey is to see what type of environment is regarding homosexuality and bisexuality. We are just gathering information in a voluntary and confidential way. The purpose of the survey is not to promote homosexuality, it is just to obtain our school’s opinions on the matter of homosexuality. We are not "advocating risky behavior," meaning that we are definitely not advocating sexual activity, either homosexual or heterosexual. We have tried to make this survey completely unbiased, not promoting homosexuality or heterosexuality. This survey was not designed "to elicit ‘preferred’ responses or to break down student inhibitions"!
We would like to clear up a few things about the Gay/Straight Alliance. We are a group of homosexual and straight students whose purpose is to create on our school and town environment. We are not the Gay Lesbian Student Alliance, we are the Gay/Straight Alliance. We are not against heterosexuals (some of our members being heterosexual), we just believe in equal rights and equal treatment for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation. We are most definitely not a group that "are there to indoctrinate other students." We believe that people should be able to love, work and go to school in an environment tolerant of their sexual orientation, be it heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.